We spent time with Gap Inc. employees from the company’s LGBTQ-focused business resource group, GEAR (Gay Employees, Allies + Resources), who shared the unique ways they wear their pride. Join us as we celebrate LGBTQ equality — this month and all year.

Here’s one story. What’s yours?

Nick Pathammavong believes in hope, in love, and in celebrating individuality. (So do we, Nick!)

A recent newlywed, this will be the first year the buying manager for Gap Online Global Merchandising will walk the San Francisco Pride parade route side-by-side with his now-husband, officially.

“That’s something I didn’t think I would ever be able to do — to walk hand-in-hand, proud, with my husband... I didn’t think I would ever be able to marry someone who I loved,” Nick says.

That’s why he chose to decorate his jacket with a rainbow version of the American flag — an homage to the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage — and place it close to his heart.

“There’s still hope, when you look at where we were and where we are now. It gives me hope to even just to be able to wear this,” he says.

This month, Gap Inc. employees will participate in local Pride events around the country, including in Albuquerque, Chicago, New York, Orlando, Sacramento, San Francisco, Vancouver and Washington D.C.

“It’s a celebration of life,” Nick says of the Pride events. “You’re marching with people of all walks of life. No matter who you are, what background you come from, what you believe in, it’s a celebration of you — of everyone.”

And that commitment to “celebrating you” and staying true to yourself takes on a very personal meaning for Nick when it comes to his family.

“My dad passed away six years ago, and I never really got to come out to him… If anything, it’s taught me that life is too short to be anybody but yourself.”